I do miss monitors and shields. This game didn't use shields in the traditional sense, but the whole "equip a shield and use it whenever you need the most help" wasn't too bad of an idea. I was really happy to see elemental shields for classic Sonic again.
They should just keep working on the current Sonic gameplay. It's getting better and better, why would you throw all of that away with something that could be a disaster? If it's more variety they're looking for, just get Tails, Knuckles, and Amy their own style of gameplay ala Sonic Adventure. Along with reintroducing Fang.
You know, I didn't miss rolling until I was playing Sonic Colours, and you get into these 2.5D areas where the ground curves and dips
Well honestly if they MUST redesign Sonic again they should probably go for something like that in-between style that was drawn up before Sonic Adventure was designed. It has elements of both the older chubby Sonic and the newer cross country runner Sonic and looked more like how I picture him in my head Of course what I take away from this interview is that they're going to try to redefine the gameplay again rather than redesign his visual appearance... But who knows. Only time will tell. So long as the games keep getting better I don't really care what they do
Whether or not Sonic gets a physical re-design is kind of superfluous to me personally. But if they are truly ready to try and advance the series from a gameplay design perspective, I think that Sonic Generations has fulfilled its greater purpose than just being a fun game. I'm going to be honest: Sega's been living too much in the past. How do I mean? Many of the games of the last 10 years are trying to capitalize on nostalgia. They make aesthetic changes that remind people of the past instead of using lessons learned in the past to fundamentally improve the franchise. I think Generations is brilliant. But I don't want this living in the past thing to happen again. They shouldn't be living in the past, they just need to be learning from it. Generations did this in a way by translating 2D elements from the classics into 3D for Modern Sonic gameplay, and now they need to take this philosophy of taking ideas that worked in the old games, stripping them down to their bare mechanical essentials, figure out why they work and are fun and use this bare, mechanical essentials to create a new, original experience. My hope is that they take the game into a "Rachet and Clank" feeling attitude of being for kids, but not being a parody of itself. While the goofy, comedy angle worked for Colors and Generations, it's time to make a game with a story direction that doesn't take itself seriously to the point of melodramatic, but make it something coherent and engaging. I think the best way to go about this is in reducing dialogue almost completely. Generations has some of these moments, like at the beginning of the Silver battle where Sonic is dodging cars and looking cool. It evoked a Sonic CD style of in control and seriousness, without trying too hard at all, which is exactly the kind of direction Sonic needs to be taken, as I believe that the little cutscenes that take place before boss battles were the most fantastic in the game. But this is a personal opinion and should be taken as such. Gameplay-wise, I hope that they take the basic way Sonic operated in Sonic Adventure and refine that while combining Unleashed/Colors/Generations elements such as boosting, drifting and quickstepping, which would combine the elements that work for low-speed and high-speed maneuvers in a way that both work equally well. Regardless of what they do to change the direction of the franchise, with the start they've gotten with the way they approached Generations, I'm super excited to see what they do!
While I could play multiple new Classic Sonic games over and over again until the end of time and never ever tire of them, the Modern gameplay while "fun" (hahaha) is not sustainable, it HAS to give way to something far superior sooner or later. They need to have a real hard think about translating the classic 2d elements of speed, exploration, platforming and momentum into 3d while allowing the player FREEDOM to do what the fuck he wants to do. After playing Generations, it's fucking hilarious because you can almost hear the voice of the developers while you're playing "WHHEEEEEEEEEE!!!! Here's some speed. Now LOOK, here's some PLATFORMS! WHEEEEEEEE!!!! Fucking speed again! SEE folks?! WE FINALLY GET IT!" No sorry, you really don't... but bless you all because Generations was fun, I really enjoyed it! As for the character redesign, God I hope not! Bringing back Classic and having him alongside Modern was the perfect solution for everyone who didn't like the newer design- just split the damn franchise with the 2 Sonics! We REALLY don't need a third Sonic design, because they run the risk of alienating everyone. Adventure 1 was when I bailed, because Sonic had changed too much and I felt I'd outgrown him, I know it's shallow but it was the classic design that made me buy Generations (I guess it's like having a favourite Bond or Dr Who), and while not a fan of Modern I respect he has his followers too who might not take too kindly to losing their Sonic as well. Even if the redesign is a good, charming and timeless one, now is really not a good time to risk rebooting the franchise when you've just fucking recaptured ALOT of hearts and minds with Generations.
I agree that the tone of Colours and Generations was perhaps a bit too comic and slapstick. Adventure 1 had the balance right, Adventure 2/Shadow and 06 were serious, but serious only to emos, people who cut themselves and big fucking fairies in general, to the rest of us they were hilariously bad! I loved the level of seriousness in the classics, you felt there was alot at stake - especially in 3K! It was kind of like the seriousness in old Bond movies, what with launching deadly space weapons from secret locations and all that jazz, you KNEW it was just fun and fantasy... but you were still on the edge of your seat. When you got to the end of a zone you felt like Robotnik wanted to fucking kill you, not in a cartoony, slapstick way but ACTUALLY kill you (the music only helped to enhance that feeling). Something about Eggman/Robotnik in Generations just didn't work somehow.
Whatever direction they take Sonic into, I hope rolling and using the spin dash becomes a big focus in the gameplay again. Not only that, but a bigger emphasis on platforming too. Generations hit a lot of the right notes in that regard. If they do redesign Sonic's image, I hope it's a good balance between old and new. I don't think they will though, but you never know with SEGA.
They can't have Sonic grow taller any more because that would be insane (if we're now to believe that Modern is a grown up Classic). The only thing they can do with a redesign is... reboot the series. Maybe we could have an origin of Sonic game? Just a thought.
Real talk though, I just want SEGA to make a new game that's basically the equivalent of Sonic 3 & Knuckles in terms of perfection. Just make a big ass platforming game with level transitions everywhere.
I actually like the degree of mobility Unleashed/Colors/Generations give Sonic. What needs to happen is in two primary changes: -decent rolling mechanics -a five-year dev cycle Give Sonic somewhere to go. A single stage should be a massive, open world, like a huge sandbox, with the player using every tool available to reach their goal. The issue isn't with the way the character works- it's that you don't have a large enough scale. The current gameplay model needs stage designs which force the player to exploit the terrific mobility on offer. That needs a longer gap between games.
This is not at all a bad idea, given that the time is spent perfecting each level and building a massive, interweaving world for each one. I think it would best be handled by something akin to the Sonic GDK engine, but that is where I've always seen the series eventually going toward.
Maybe not 5 but at least 4. Generations is great but imagine Generations with twice the levels and twice the polish. Then we'd be having a grand ol time. Of course for this to happen Unleashed and Colors would have never happened. I suppose if that was the case Modern Sonic would likely have been more like Adventure Sonic. However given Sega's policy of not recognizing any of it's other IPs, expect more of the same. At the very least they have different divisions working on different games, so while there may be a situation like Colors, Generations, Sonic 4, and Sonic Riders, they're all being handled by different people for the most part (some overlap but for the most part they're independent projects). So at the very least it's likely these games get about 2 years development time as is. Could stand to be longer though by at least a year.
Five years isn't overkill at all. I don't want Generations with more stages- I'm talking about a game in which a "stage" is a single massive arena. If you can see a tower in the distance, you can run toward it; you can scale its exterior, or climb through the interior. Given the "CHASE GIANT AIRSHIP #3491" goal which is so prevalent- you'd survey the landscape, and see the airship on the horizon, moving toward a colossal tree. So, with Sonic's current ridiculous skillset- run up the trunk of a nearby, smaller tree. Launch into the air, and land in the forest canopy; jump between thick branches, swing and grind on vines, crossing the massive field of green until you reach the large tree. No walls- you look at the landscape ahead and determine what the quickest path is. If you're right- you reach the tree, and enter its trunk; run along the interior wall and shoot out the top, grabbing onto the door of the airship. Navigate the perilous interior of the ship, dodging flame-jets, leaping between turbines. Reach Robotnik/Eggman/whatever you call him inside the ship; trick his mech into firing its rockets at the ship's main reactor. It's going down. He flees for a base in the valley below. Break down the door and use it as a snowboard in pursuit. If you're wrong, you need to find another way to intercept the ship and continue onward, before it leaves the forest's skies. That's what needs to be done with the current skillset given to Sonic. There's a massive amount of freedom of movement the mechanics allow; it's wasted on a game design that focuses on a rollercoaster experience. Even when it's good! Empire City, Asteroid Coaster, and Sky Sanctuary are all great fun- but they waste the freedom of movement that Sonic's modern skillset allows. Generations is by far more open than either Colors or Unleashed- but you're still quite easily moving in a line from point A to point B. You're never made to improvise.
